Chapter Summaries

Ning Ziteng waited at his residence for his childhood sweetheart, Jia Tong, while Xiang Zhan and other ministers gathered to watch their encounter. When Jia Tong arrived with her husband, Ning Ziteng rejected her attempts at closeness and refused to help her before she had even explained her request.

• After leaving court, Ning Ziteng told Xiang Zhan he had learned from his past mistake and headed home to face Jia Tong.
• Xiang Zhan and several ministers followed Ning Ziteng to his residence, where they waited with him for Jia Tong.
• Jiang Nuan climbed the wall and watched as Jia Tong arrived with her husband, drawing the ministers' attention.
• Ning Ziteng backed away when Jia Tong tried to act familiar and told her not to give her husband and children the wrong idea.
• When Jia Tong asked to speak privately and then requested his help, Ning Ziteng refused and told her to leave.

Ning Ziteng rejected Jia Tong’s demands after exposing her false claim that she had saved him, then Jiang Nuan hosted a hot pot meal for her family and friends. The meal ended with Jiang Chengze asking Jiang Yehua whether the divided pot had given him any ideas.

• Ning Ziteng confronted Jia Tong about searching for the taisui instead of rescuing him and refused to give her family silver.
• Ning Ziteng dismissed Jia Tong, her husband, and their child, then sent his official guests away.
• Jiang Nuan learned that the hot pot and seasonings were ready and had the servants prepare a meal with spicy and clear broth.
• An Yan, Yun Shining, Jiang Chengze, and Jiang Yehua joined Jiang Nuan for hot pot, and Yun Shining ate enthusiastically despite the spicy broth.
• Jiang Chengze asked Jiang Yehua whether the divided hot pot had given him any ideas.

Jiang Chengze discovered that Jiang Nuan’s custom-made pot and kitchen knives used unusually high-quality iron, and she agreed to share the manufacturing method with the army. After Jiang Yunsheng examined a knife, he ordered Jiang Chengze to bring Jiang Nuan to the army’s year-end inspection, where Jiang Chengze invited her to visit.

• Jiang Chengze realized Jiang Nuan’s iron pot was made from iron better than that used for ordinary military blades.
• Jiang Nuan showed Jiang Chengze and Jiang Yehua her kitchen knives, and Jiang Yehua demonstrated that one could cut through an ordinary dagger without being damaged.
• Jiang Nuan agreed to share the improved ironworking method with the army, and Jiang Chengze promised she would be paid.
• An Yan suggested opening a Hot Pot restaurant, but Jiang Nuan explained that the seasonings were too scarce and expensive.
• Jiang Chengze brought two kitchen knives to Jiang Yunsheng, who recognized their quality and ordered him to bring Jiang Nuan to the army’s year-end inspection.
• The next day, Jiang Chengze invited Jiang Nuan to visit the army.

Jiang Nuan visited Great Xia’s military camp and discovered that horseshoes and saddles could improve its cavalry, then decided to recruit craftspeople to help develop useful inventions. She learned that the Black Earth School had a history of conflict with the imperial family but resolved to approach them anyway.

• Jiang Chengze took Jiang Nuan to watch Great Xia’s soldiers demonstrate infantry combat and cavalry skills.
• Jiang Nuan noticed the horses had no horseshoes or saddles and planned to make both, while Jiang Yunsheng recognized the potential to preserve warhorses and strengthen the cavalry.
• Jiang Nuan found instructions for making saddles and horseshoes in the Guidebook for Time Travelers and decided to leave the work to her Crown Prince brother.
• Jiang Nuan asked Guagua whether Great Xia had a group of skilled craftspeople and learned that the Black Earth School had been suppressed by her grandfather after refusing to help the dynasty’s founders.
• Jiang Nuan decided to try recruiting the Black Earth School despite the bad blood, hoping both to find capable workers and to prevent the school from disappearing.

Jiang Nuan searched for the Black Earth School and found its members through Zhuang Leyou, who brought her to see the gravely ill Jiao Chengwang. She learned that a medicinal catalyst in the imperial palace could help cure him and offered to obtain it, while a middle-aged man insisted he would never reconcile with the imperial court.

• Jiang Nuan followed Guagua's lead to a street of artisans, where she met Zhuang Leyou and learned he knew someone from the Black Earth School.
• Jiang Nuan told Zhuang Leyou she wanted to help the school, and he took her to a remote village to meet Jiao Chengwang.
• Zhuang Leyou explained that Jiao Chengwang was gravely ill and needed a medicinal catalyst kept in the imperial palace.
• Jiang Nuan promised to do her best to obtain the catalyst after Zhuang Leyou wrote down its name.
• A middle-aged man declared that he would never reconcile with the imperial court, and Zhuang Leyou introduced Jiang Nuan as a distant relative's child.

Jiang Nuan secured the medicinal catalyst that saved Jiao Chengwang, then persuaded Jiao Ping and the Capital City branch of the Black Earth School to submit to the court. Their decision sparked an uproar among the school’s other branches across the realm.

• Jiang Nuan learned that Jiang Yehua had the medicinal catalyst and obtained it from him.
• Jiao Chengwang took the medicine and woke up that night.
• Jiang Nuan offered Jiao Ping blueprints and benefits in exchange for the Black Earth School’s submission to the court.
• Jiao Ping and Jiao Yu convinced the Capital City branch to submit after discussing Jiang Nuan’s offer.
• The other Black Earth School branches across the realm erupted in uproar when they heard the news.

Jiang Nuan visited the Black Earth School members and found Jiao Ping arguing with Xue Jian over his submission to the imperial court. Guagua exposed embarrassing secrets about both men, derailing the dispute, and Jiang Nuan left her reason for visiting to Uncle Jiao to explain.

• Jiang Nuan arrived at the Black Earth School members’ lodging and found Jiao Ping arguing with Xue Jian and other branch members about submitting to the imperial court.
• Jiao Ping reminded the visiting members that they had refused to help Capital City during the court’s suppression of the school.
• Guagua revealed that Xue Jian wrote the popular indecent book Parting in Spring Passion, leaving him mortified.
• Guagua exposed Jiao Ping as an illustrator of erotic books, and the two men’s argument collapsed into awkward silence.
• When a young man asked why she had come, Jiang Nuan told him that Uncle Jiao could explain.

Jiao Ping persuaded Xue Jian to submit to the imperial court by showing him the benefits and research blueprints. Xue Jian agreed to lead the Black Earth School members arriving in Capital City, while Jiang Nuan offered more blueprints after they finished their first projects.

• Xue Jian read the imperial court's benefits and grew tempted by the prospect of wealth and high office.
• Jiao Ping showed Xue Jian and the others blueprints, then warned that they were only for those who submitted to the imperial court.
• Xue Jian abruptly declared his loyalty to the imperial court and agreed to choose one blueprint to research.
• Jiao Ping challenged Xue Jian to persuade arriving members of the Black Earth School to submit, and Xue Jian accepted.
• Jiang Nuan confirmed she had supplied the blueprints and promised more after the group completed its research.

Jiang Nuan moved Jiao Ping, Xue Jian, and the arriving members of the Black Earth School into her new compound, where rivalries drove them to work hard. She then inspected An Yan’s first glass ornament, a Glazed Coral Tree, and planned to enlist the imperial palace to promote it.

• Jiang Nuan offered Jiao Ping and the other Black Earth School members rooms in her compound, and Xue Jian asked to move there too.
• Jiao Ping and Xue Jian competed to lead the Black Earth School, and their rivalry inspired the newcomers to work late into the night.
• Jiang Nuan visited An Yan and watched the workers unveil a clear glass Glazed Coral Tree.
• Jiang Nuan praised the ornament and decided that her imperial father could help promote the glass artworks.

Jiang Nuan attended the New Year's Eve banquet with her brothers and met her adorable younger brother Jiang Gaoyan. Learning that Jiang Ruihui would murder him by drowning him, Jiang Nuan grew furious, while Consort Rou resolved to protect her son.

• Jiang Nuan arrived at the banquet with Jiang Chengze and Jiang Yehua, wearing the sachet Xiao Xiao had embroidered for her.
• Jiang Nuan met Jiang Gaoyan, who called her Sister, and shared a pastry with him.
• Consort Rou dropped and broke her tableware, and Jiang Yunsheng ordered fresh tableware brought to her.
• Jiang Nuan recalled that Jiang Gaoyan would die before the age of five, and Guagua revealed that Jiang Ruihui planned to have him drowned in a pond.
• Consort Rou resolved to change and protect Jiang Gaoyan from future harm.

Jiang Nuan’s New Year gift sparked a craze for glassware, while Guagua revealed that Jiang Yan’s wife had left for Stillness Temple after a family member stirred up conflict between them. Jiang Yan realized he might already have feelings for his wife as the story behind their relationship began to surface.

• Jiang Yunsheng resolved to keep Jiang Ruihui alive and punish him for trying to harm Jiang Gaoyan.
• Consort Rou thanked Jiang Nuan and invited her to spend more time with Jiang Gaoyan, while Jiang Nuan exchanged New Year gifts with her siblings.
• Jiang Nuan presented the emperor with a glass coral tree, impressing the banquet guests and prompting a rush on An Yan’s glassware shop.
• Jiang Nuan noticed Jiang Yan was distracted, and Guagua explained that his wife had gone to Stillness Temple after her sister-in-law sowed discord between them.
• Jiang Nuan questioned Jiang Yan’s supposed attachment to another woman, and Jiang Yan wondered whether he had already developed feelings for his wife.

Jiang Nuan and Guagua revealed how Jiang Yan and Yueyi fell in love through poetry and letters, then spent years trapped in misunderstandings. Jiang Yan learned Yueyi had prepared divorce papers, leaving him devastated.

• Jiang Yan realized that Yueyi had been his longtime poetry correspondent in the Peach Blossom Garden.
• Guagua explained that the Duke's Mansion had substituted Yueyi for her elder sister in Jiang Yan's arranged marriage, then cut ties with her.
• Jiang Yan recalled avoiding Yueyi after mistaking her for the woman he had once loved, while Jiang Nuan condemned his refusal to listen to explanations.
• Guagua revealed that Yueyi's elder sister had stirred up their latest quarrel after Jiang Yan accused Yueyi of imitating his former correspondent.
• Jiang Nuan learned that Yueyi planned to send divorce papers to Prince You's Residence after the New Year celebrations, and Jiang Yan was devastated.

Jiang Nuan decided to write a novel based on the imperial family’s scandals and use it to spread useful knowledge. After saving Jiang Gaoyan from choking, she agreed to share the Heimlich Maneuver and considered compiling other first-aid methods into a booklet.

• Jiang Nuan planned to write a novel about Jiang Yan and An Laiyun, while Jiang Yan and the other officials worried about being portrayed in it.
• Jiang Nuan realized she could use novels and storytellers to spread common knowledge and decided to include An Yan’s story as well.
• Jiang Gaoyan began choking, and Jiang Nuan guided Chunhua through the Heimlich Maneuver until he spat out the meat.
• Imperial Physician Sun examined Jiang Gaoyan and confirmed he was out of danger.
• Imperial Physician Sun asked Jiang Nuan to share the Heimlich Maneuver, and she agreed to prepare instructions and considered compiling more first-aid methods.

Jiang Nuan celebrated New Year's Eve with her family by showing them fireworks and introducing playing cards and Mahjong, then learned she would join the emperor's prayer visit to Stillness Temple. The chapter leaves her eager to go there after Guagua reveals her imperial aunt and uncle are staying at the temple.

• Jiang Nuan planned to make cheap paper now that members of the Black Earth School were arriving, while Jiao Ping and his group chose to develop the Curved Shaft Plow.
• Jiang Nuan led Xiao Xiao, Jiang Yunsheng, and Jiang Chengze to the imperial garden and showed them fireworks made from a weaker form of gunpowder.
• Jiang Nuan introduced playing cards and Mahjong, lost most of her New Year's money, and left both games with Xiao Xiao as gifts.
• Jiang Nuan learned she would accompany the emperor on the third-day prayer visit to Stillness Temple.
• Guagua told Jiang Nuan that her imperial aunt and uncle were staying at Stillness Temple, and Jiang Nuan hurried to go hear the gossip.

Jiang Nuan and Jiang Zixuan secretly watched Jiang Yan ask Jin Yueyi for forgiveness, then joined Jin Yueyi as she picked plum blossoms. Jiang Nuan encouraged Jin Yueyi to sell her fragrances, and Jin Yueyi considered opening a shop after divorcing Jiang Yan.

• Jiang Zixuan followed Jiang Nuan to Stillness Temple’s plum grove, where they found Jiang Yan begging Jin Yueyi to forgive him.
• Jiang Nuan thought Jiang Yan was a scoundrel and urged Jin Yueyi not to forgive him, but Jin Yueyi discovered the girls hiding nearby.
• Jin Yueyi gave Jiang Nuan a Jade Buddha and offered to send her and Jiang Zixuan sachets and scented balms.
• Jiang Yan recalled that he had once insulted Jin Yueyi’s handmade sachets and regretted how he had treated her.
• Jiang Nuan suggested that Jin Yueyi sell her fragrances and offered to open a shop together using her formulas.

Jiang Nuan agreed to open a shop with Jin Yueyi, while Jiang Yan and Jiang Zixuan offered funding and help. On her way to Prince You's Mansion, Jiang Nuan learned that Jiang Linxi was heading toward a gambling trap and decided to follow him so she could prove the danger to him.

• Jin Yueyi rejected Jiang Yan's offer to help run the shop, but Jiang Yan agreed to fund it and keep its accounts when Jiang Nuan hinted that they needed money.
• Jiang Zixuan contributed her private savings to Jiang Nuan's shop, and Jiang Nuan returned to the palace to write out the recipe.
• The next day, Jiang Nuan recognized Jiang Linxi as he tried to slip into an alley and learned from Guagua that he was being lured toward a gambling den by a planted friend.
• Jiang Nuan warned Jiang Linxi about gambling and invited him to go home with her, but he refused and headed to meet his friend.
• Jiang Nuan decided to follow Jiang Linxi and, if he was taken to the gambling den, knock him out and bring him to his parents.

Jiang Nuan stopped Jiang Linxi from being dragged into a gambling den by Yu Liangzhe and took him to learn the truth about his supposed friend. Jiang Linxi discovered Yu Liangzhe had lied about his background and examination success, leaving him crushed by the betrayal.

• Yu Liangzhe tried to lead Jiang Linxi into a gambling den, but Jiang Linxi refused and called for Jiang Nuan to help him.
• Jiang Linxi ended his friendship with Yu Liangzhe after accusing him of deliberately leading him astray, and Yu Liangzhe left.
• Jiang Nuan took Jiang Linxi to Yu Liangzhe's village and paid an old woman for information about him.
• The old woman revealed that Yu Liangzhe, known as Black Egg, had failed the Tongsheng examination and still owed villagers money borrowed for his tuition.
• Jiang Linxi realized Yu Liangzhe had lied about being a licentiate and was devastated by the betrayal.

Jiang Nuan and Jiang Linxi returned to the Prince’s Mansion, where Jin Yueyi learned through Jiang Nuan’s thoughts about Linxi’s foolish attempt to disguise himself and befriend Yu Liangzhe. Later, Jiang Zixuan asked Jiang Nuan and Jiang Mengqing to help her consider marriage prospects, beginning with Shao Wenrui.

• Jiang Linxi asked Jiang Nuan to keep his embarrassing encounter secret, and she promised she would.
• Jiang Nuan’s inner thoughts revealed that Linxi had tried to pass himself off as an ordinary person to befriend Yu Liangzhe, and Jin Yueyi realized he might need watching.
• Jin Yueyi took Jiang Nuan aside to discuss opening a shop and perfume formulas.
• Jiang Zixuan brought Jiang Nuan and Jiang Mengqing into a room and asked them to advise her about marriage prospects.
• Jiang Zixuan named Shao Wenrui as her first candidate, and Guagua found no major scandal about him but said they would need to meet him to learn more.

Jiang Nuan, Jiang Zixuan, and Jiang Mengqing reviewed Zixuan’s marriage candidates and agreed to observe them during the Lantern Festival. At the lantern-riddle gathering, Guagua exposed Shao Wenrui’s controlling mother and warned that he was a poor prospect.

• Jiang Nuan told Jiang Zixuan that Zhou Youjia was a devoted workaholic who might neglect her if they married.
• Jiang Mengqing rejected Shen Haoyu because of his many female confidantes, and Jiang Nuan ruled out Mao Zhonglin after learning he had fallen in love with the healer who saved him.
• Jiang Mengqing suggested that they observe the remaining candidates during the Lantern Festival, and Jiang Nuan and Jiang Zixuan agreed.
• Jiang Nuan spent the following days resting, preparing medical-book copies for Gu Qingfeng, and organizing blueprints as members of the Black Earth School arrived.
• Jiang Mengqing, Jiang Zixuan, and Jiang Nuan wore masks and went to the river’s lantern-riddle gathering, where Shao Wenrui was nearby.
• Guagua revealed that Shao Wenrui obeyed his possessive mother in everything and that she had killed his two bedchamber maids, so the three women looked toward her.

At the lantern festival, Jiang Nuan and her companions encountered Zhou Youjia, who warned them that the Former Dynasty’s remnants were planning trouble. Before they could escape, the remnants surrounded them and prepared to attack.

• Jiang Nuan learned that Zhangsun Yi was at the Riverside Restaurant and heard that he was intelligent but uninterested in serving the country.
• Jiang Linxi discovered his money pouch was missing, prompting festivalgoers to realize they had been robbed.
• Zhou Youjia chased down the thief, recovered the stolen pouches, and returned Jiang Linxi’s pouch.
• Zhou Youjia warned Jiang Nuan and her companions that the festival might become dangerous, and they agreed to leave.
• Guagua revealed that the Former Dynasty’s remnants had already spotted the group and surrounded them with weapons.
• Zhou Youjia, Chunhua, and Qiuyue drew their weapons to protect Jiang Nuan and the others as the remnants prepared to attack.